Crowd sourced content for local social media context aboard a mobile communications platform

ABSTRACT

A system includes a local social media context server aboard a vehicle, the local social media context server including logic to implement a local social media context for a passenger aboard the vehicle, the local social media context being configured with a duration commensurate with a duration of a trip by the passenger on the vehicle; an antenna coupled to the local social media context server; and logic to prioritize content posted to the local social media context by the person for promotion to the person&#39;s global social media context.

PRIORITY CLAIM

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 toapplication serial no. U.S. 61/708,178, filed on Oct. 1, 2012, and under35 U.S.C. 119 to application serial no. U.S. 61/759,927, filed on Feb.1, 2013, and under 35 U.S.C. 119 to application serial no. U.S.61/760,268, filed on Feb. 4, 2013, and under 35 U.S.C. 119 toapplication serial no. U.S. 61/843,955, filed on Jul. 9, 2013, each ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Passengers on moving vehicles may having limited access to their socialmedia context (e.g., Facebook) and may thus be denied a social mediaexperience during trips. This can occur due to limits on the datacontracts or available bandwidth over the length of the trip. Thiscondition can lead to a sense of social isolation or dissatisfactionwith the trip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, the same reference numbers and acronyms identifyelements or acts with the same or similar functionality for ease ofunderstanding and convenience. To easily identify the discussion of anyparticular element or act, the most significant digit or digits in areference number refer to the figure number in which that element isfirst introduced.

FIG. 1-4 illustrate a local social media context overlayed onto a globalsocial media context, and techniques for promoting content from theglobal context to the local context, and for syncing content from thelocal context to the global context.

FIG. 5 illustrates an MCP local social media environment.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 illustrate embodiments of a content promotion systemfor an MCP.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a machine communication andprocessing network for implementing aspects of the described devices andactions.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a machine communication andprocessing network for implementing aspects of the described devices andactions.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a machine device which canimplement various actions described herein (either client or server orintermediate device).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

References to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” do not necessarilyrefer to the same embodiment, although they may. Unless the contextclearly requires otherwise, throughout the description and the claims,the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and the like are to be construed inan inclusive sense as opposed to an exclusive or exhaustive sense; thatis to say, in the sense of “including, but not limited to.” Words usingthe singular or plural number also include the plural or singular numberrespectively, unless expressly limited to a single one or multiple ones.Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below” and words of similarimport, when used in this application, refer to this application as awhole and not to any particular portions of this application. When theclaims use the word “or” in reference to a list of two or more items,that word covers all of the following interpretations of the word: anyof the items in the list, all of the items in the list and anycombination of the items in the list, unless expressly limited to one orthe other.

“Logic” refers to machine memory circuits, machine readable media,and/or circuitry which by way of its material and/or material-energyconfiguration comprises control and/or procedural signals, and/orsettings and values (such as resistance, impedance, capacitance,inductance, current/voltage ratings, etc.), that may be applied toinfluence the operation of a device. Magnetic media, electroniccircuits, electrical and optical memory (both volatile and nonvolatile),and firmware are examples of logic.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that logic may be distributedthroughout one or more devices, and/or may be comprised of combinationsmemory, media, processing circuits and controllers, other circuits, andso on. Therefore, in the interest of clarity and correctness logic maynot always be distinctly illustrated in drawings of devices and systems,although it is inherently present therein.

The techniques and procedures described herein may be implemented vialogic distributed in one or more computing devices. The particulardistribution and choice of logic may vary according to implementation.

The following terminology and acronyms may be used in the descriptionwhich follows:

CIR: Committed Information Rate—the guaranteed minimum amount ofbandwidth committed to a customer, application or remote site

MIR: Maximum Information Rate—the maximum amount of bandwidth allocatedto a customer, application or remote site based on availability and notguaranteed

Bandwidth Pool: A specific segment of bandwidth that is typically sharedbetween multiple customers, sites or ships in a region.

VSAT: Very Small Aperture Terminal

Wireless: includes WIFI, LTE, WIMAX, 3G, 4G and any other wirelesscommunications technologies.

CBM: Central Bandwidth Manager—located in a central data center

LSS: Local Service Selector—located on individual vessels, remote sitesor vehicles

NMS: Network Management System

MCP: Mobile Communications Platform (includes ships, land vehicles(trucks, trains, cars . . . ), and aircraft).

Shore side: Refers to any fixed (non-mobile) location in the area of anMCP.

Priority content: Refers to content that is assigned, via structuralmodifications to a machine memory, as association with a priority valuethat indicates the content has priority for purposes of promotion orsyncing (e.g., priority with respect to utilization of available networkbandwidth and/or machine resources such as memory, processorutilization, etc.).

Instantaneously computed: Refers to a value determined as parameters toa deterministic computation become defined or updated. “Instantaneous”does not require absolute immediacy in time, but does imply that thedetermined value closely tracks changes in the values of the parametersthat determine it.

External network: Refers to a network that is not moving with an MCP,and which is accessed wirelessly via a network bridge or switch device.

Queue: Refers to a first-in, first-out structural arrangement for dataflow through a machine memory. Queues have a length which is a number ofdistinct content items awaiting action in the queue.

Expected delay, Expected bandwidth: Refers (1) to a delay valuedeterministically computed rather than measured after the delay occurs,(2) to an available machine network bandwidth resource deterministicallycomputed rather than measured as a contemporaneous available networkbandwidth.

Passenger account: Refers to settings stored inside a machine systemmemory that reflect and define assets of a passenger available ascompensation to third parties via a settlement machine network (e.g.,MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express).

Normal content: Refers to content that is not priority content.

Content size: Refers to a count of a memory storage metric such as bitsor bytes, where bits or bytes correspond to machine memory cells.

Local social media context: Refers to a machine organization definingcontent and relationships between content for one or a group of people,the content and relationships limited to a defined circumstance for atrip aboard an MCP.

Global social media context: Refers to a machine organization definingcontent and relationships between content for one or a group of people,the content and relationships not limited to the circumstances of aparticular trip aboard an MCP.

Overlay: Refers to content and relationships from one social mediacontext being superimposed but not completely merged into the contentand relationships from another social media context. An overlay isimplemented in machine systems by presenting to a user of the system theinformation from different contexts in an at least partially mergedformat, while retaining the separateness of the two contexts in theunderlying memory configuration of the machine(s).

Sync/Synchronize: Refers to a process of altering relationships andcontent in one context to fit into another context. This processinvolves identifying analogous content and/or relationships between thetwo contexts, updating that content if it is not analogous, and copyingnon-analogous content from the one context to the other, so that itbecomes a native (not overlaid) part of the other context.

Promotion: Copying content and relationships from one context toanother, so that it becomes a native part of the other context.

Event Duration: Refers to a time or distance or both between a definedstarting point of an event and a defined ending point of an event. Startand ending times for an event may be defined in a machine system asstored values in a machine memory configuration, the stored valuescorresponding to (for instance) rights of occupancy of a person on anMCP. A “total trip” for instance is the time or distance between when apassenger first embarks on the MCP and when they disembark due to theirright of occupancy expiring, or voluntarily before that time.

Social media: Refers to an organized collection of content relating to aperson's friendship, family, pets, or other personal or professionallife, involving identification of people and relationships between thepeople at a personal or professional level. The organized content iscollectively subject to privacy restrictions specific to the person(user) to whom it all pertains.

Storage: Refers, in reference to content, social media, or settings, toalteration of a machine memory material/energy configuration to reflectvalues and relationships among those values, where the values translate(directly or indirectly) to quantities, qualities, states, or things inthe physical world.

Rules: Refers to a configuration of machine memory defining themachine's behavior when manipulating particular stored informationtoward a particular result.

Bandwidth: Refers to information transfer capacity over one or morelinks of a machine communication network. “Higher” bandwidth refers toconditions when greater amounts of data transfer may be affected overthe network, relative to some defined lower bandwidth situation.“Bandwidth allocation” is the process of altering settings in memory ofa machine network to associate an amount of bandwidth resources on oneor more network links to particular content, people, machines, ormachine processes (or combinations of these).

Port: Refers to any location at which an MCP may stop or pause a trip.Usually, passengers of the MCP may disembark at a port.

Bandwidth-limited zone: Refers to a geographical area in which bandwidthis lower relative to a defined other area.

Filter: Refers to a machine-implemented process of applying criteriaagainst content or relationship attributes and selectively identifyingwhich content/relationships meet the criteria and which do not, andtaking some action in response to those identifications.

Post/posting: Refers to a process of communicating signals via onemachine to another, or via a machine-human interface to internal logicof the machine or a different machine, where the signals identifycontent to be incorporated into a social media context.

Cache: Refers to temporary storage of content or other social media in amachine memory and association of the content or other data with asocial media context, prior to promotion of the content or syncing ofthe content into a different context.

Crowdsourcing: Refers to establishing machine memory configurationsrepresenting attributes and/or relationships between people and content,people and people, or content and people, based upon signals generatedvia machine interfaces due to activities and actions of a multitude ofgeographically diverse persons all connected (directly or indirectly) toa common machine communication network.

Content: Refers to organizations of machine memory representingreal-world physical phenomenon such as images, audio, music, a sequenceof keystrokes, and activities on a machine interface (speech, gestures,drawing, selections, sliders, etc.). Content may be applied totransducers to create visual displays on an optical output device(displays) or to produce vibrations via (for example) speakers.

DESCRIPTION

In one embodiment, the price that a passenger on an MCP pays forpriority promoted content is an instantaneously computed price thatdepends on the length of the queue(s) for normal/priority contenttransfer to/from the external network. The price quoted or applied tothe passenger account may also depend upon an expected delay that willbe incurred if the content is promoted normally vs. via prioritypromotion. The delay may depend on a number of factors including thesize of the content the passenger wants to promote between contexts, thelength of the various queues involved, and the MCP's actual or expectedbandwidth circumstances.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an embodiment of a local event social medianetwork, “overlaid” onto a global social media network. A configurablesubset of information from the global network is “promoted” into thelocal network, and a configurable subset of information from the localnetwork is “synced” into the global network. The overlay exits for theduration of an event, which in one embodiment is defined by the durationof a trip using a moving vehicle. Examples of this type of local eventsare ship, bus, and train tours. This type of local event may persisteven when the vehicle stops and a particular passenger disembarkstemporally, so long as the total trip has not yet concluded.

The local social media overlay for a particular passenger on the vehiclemay include information promoted from the passenger's global socialmedia context, and new media generated during the event and stored intothe passenger's local social context. Examples of social media includesinformation about people, events, comments, photos, and videos. Localsocial media is synced into the global social media context (e.g.,Facebook) according to a set of rules which may be specific to certainconditions onboard the moving vehicle (e.g., location, availablebandwidth) and/or specific to particular people in the local or globalsocial context. Global media is promoted into the local social contextusing another set of rules that are likewise specific to onboardconditions and/or people in the global or local context.

FIG. 2-4 illustrate how the local social media and global social mediamay be made available to the passenger of a moving vehicle during afirst phrase of the trip, for example when higher bandwidth is availablenear a port. Global social media may be promoted into the local contextand stored there for the trip. The moving vehicle into abandwidth-limited zone and the amount of promotion of new content fromthe global context, and syncing of new content into the global context,may be affected. In some cases, there is no promotion or syncing ofcontent between the local and global contexts, for example when nobandwidth is available or when the rules of promotion/sync indicate thatno content qualifies.

During high bandwidth conditions, synchronization/promotion between thelocal social media context and the global social media context may bemore active because the rules of priority admit more content. Lowerpriority social media content may be promoted/synced during higherbandwidth conditions. The rules for synchronization from the localcontext back to the global context may in some embodiments not promoteanything back into the global context until the trip for the passengerconcludes, or dynamic rules may be established for synchronizinginformation back from the local media context to the global mediacontext according to the available bandwidth, other trip conditions(such as milestones), and according to priorities for people (e.g.,close friends, family, co-workers . . . ), and/or priority for localevents (e.g., wedding).

The promotion rules from the global social media context to the localsocial media context may filter out certain global social media peopleand events (post types by people in the global context, e.g. locationupdates may be lower priority than status updates). The promotion/syncrules may be specific to the type of content updates for example, text,images, videos and so on. The text associated with a video or image maybe promoted/synced, or the image converted to a thumbnail or icon beforepromotion/sync. The passenger may define through the rules which aspectsof the local media context are finally promoted to their global mediacontext at the end of the trip (e.g., which new friends, which posts,which status updates).

MCP Social Media Context

Referring to FIG. 5, a local social media context for an MCP 504,including bandwidth allocation and connection setup for MCPs 504utilizing satellite 508 communications, is managed and controlled by twoindependent but cooperating systems. They are:

-   -   1) Central Bandwidth Manager (CBM) 502    -   2) Local Service Selectors (LSS) 506 that are mobile and located        on each MCP 504

The CBM 502 is responsible for the overall monitoring and control of thebandwidth/connection allocation process. The CBM 502 interfaces withvarious Network Management Systems 510 (like the iDirect NMS), to obtainreal-time bandwidth allocation and utilization data at the network, MCP504 and application levels. The CBM 502 also interfaces with the LSSs506 on each MCP 504 to determine the status of the connectivity optionsavailable to each MCP. The LSS 506 is responsible for making localrouting decisions based on real-time connectivity circumstances as wellas pre-set rules and thresholds. The LSSs 506 routing decisions can alsobe driven by commands from the CBM 502. Each MCP 504 may communicatewith shoreside antenna 514 via onboard antenna 512.

The connectivity circumstances of a particular MCP may include whetherit has access to an alternate connection to the network (e.g., portWiFi), its location, whether it is proximate to another MCP thatprovides uplink bandwidth, whether it has just arrived to port or willsoon depart, predicted weather patterns, passenger count and otherconsiderations, such as:

Bandwidth cost

Link performance and availability

Link latency

MCP itinerary or course

Bandwidth availability

Customer preferences

Network load balance

Proximity to other bandwidth sources (e.g. shore-side WiFi, 3G/4G, othervessels)

Priority Promotion of Content

As described supra, local social media application logic may execute(i.e., be applied to affect the behavior of one or more dataprocessor/controller logic units) to influence the operation of a deviceof a passenger on an MCP. For example, a local social media applicationmay execute on a laptop computer, cell phone, iPod, or other passengerdevice, during a limited duration event such as a cruise, a commute, atrip, and so on.

The local social media logic acts as an overlay layer to global socialmedia logic (e.g., databases and application logic for Facebook,Myspace, Twitter, Google Plus, etc.) associated with the passenger. Inother words, the local application logic provides a social media contextwhich is local to and limited to the duration of a moving event, such asa cruise, a commute, or a trip. Local social media connections andcontent are organized, displayed and managed by the local social mediaapplication, which also controls the interaction with and contentexchange with the global social media application for a particularpassenger of the MCP.

During the duration of the moving event or activity, content posted bythe passenger to their local social media account may under certaincircumstances be promoted to the global social media context of thatpassenger. However, this typically involves a transfer of data betweenthe MCP and the internet, via which most global social media logic isdesigned to be accessed. This communication between the MCP and theinternet consumes bandwidth, which may be expensive. Bandwidthmanagement and prioritization logic on the MCP may determine which typesof local content are provided with priority promotion to the globalsocial media context, and which local content is instead cached in thelocal social media context of passenger for promotion at a later time.In one embodiment, a payment account of the passenger contains a balanceor charge or authorization for a charge for certain amount of valuewhich is correlated to an amount and/or type of content promotions thatreceive priority bandwidth to the passenger's global context.

The logic aboard the MCP effectively enables a “post-it-now” functionwhereby certain content posted to the user's local social media contentbypasses the MCP outbound cache and is promoted more or less directly totheir global social media context via the MCP's internet connection. Thepost-it-now function may be implemented using a content queue (see FIG.6) whereby content from multiple passengers of the MCP that is due forpromotion enters the queue and is (normally) promoted in the order it isqueued. Post it now content bypasses some or all of the content in thenormal queue; it is either posted as soon as there is bandwidth on theexternal network channel; or it enters a priority queue (FIG. 7) that isspecifically for priority content (e.g., a post it now queue. Thepriority queue may be implemented as markers within the normal queue, orin a separately established queue.

Note the term “queue” herein applies to an area of machine memorystorage organized to operate as a queue.

The length of the queue and the time delay for the post to the globalaccount will depend on factors including how many passengers are postingpromotable content, the size of the posted promotable content, they thebandwidth of the MCP connection to the internet.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 illustrate embodiments of a content promotion systemfor an MCP. The system interacts with social media application logic 609of the devices 610 of passengers on the MCP, so that content may bepromoted between local and global social media contexts for thepassengers via an external (to the MCP) data network. The applicationlogic 609 establishes a communication connection to control logic 607.The control logic 607 monitors factors affecting latency ofcommunications to or from the application logic 609 to a networkexternal to the MCP (or receives control or data related to said factorsfrom the CBM 502). The control logic 607 promotes content from apassenger's local context to their global context, and potentially viceversa, which affects how the content is queued and which is tied to apassenger's payment account.

Input and output queues to a limited bandwidth connection, for exampleto a satellite, are monitored by control logic 607. The control logicdetermines placement of a passenger's content in the inbound and/oroutbound queues according to a payment model; e.g., a higher price ispaid for higher priority placement in the queues.

Variable Pricing for Priority Promotion

In one embodiment, the price that a passenger on an MCP pays forpriority promoted content is an instantaneously computed price thatdepends on the length of the queue(s) for normal/priority contenttransfer to/from the external network. The price quoted or applied tothe passenger account may also depend upon an expected delay that willbe incurred if the content is promoted normally vs. via prioritypromotion. The delay may depend on a number of factors including thesize of the content the passenger wants to promote between contexts, thelength of the various queues involved, and the MCP's actual or expectedbandwidth circumstances.

One factor affecting the price of priority content promotion may be thetime expected for the MCP to transition from a lower bandwidthconnection, for example a satellite connection, to a higher bandwidthconnection, for example a ship to shore WiFi connection which may beanticipated to take place within a computed amount of time based on theMCP trajectory, its speed, and the availability of local access pointsto the shore from a directional or fixed antenna on the MCP. Thus thepriority price may decrease as the MCP draws nearer to a high bandwidthconnection that is expected to be available, and may increase as the MCPmoves away from such a connection, or as weather conditions worsen, anddue to other factors that may increase the expected length of time forcontent to be promoted normally. The MCP may communicate over amanagement channel to an on-shore data system (e.g., CBM) which via thesatellite may provide the MCP with information about the availability ofa higher bandwidth channel, how much bandwidth the MCP can expect to beavailable on the higher bandwidth channel, and how much bandwidth isavailable over any backhaul links between the higher bandwidth channeland the internet. The price charged for priority promotion may depend onthe size of the content involved. For example, high quality images orvideo may be quoted a higher price due to the fact that they involvemore data transfer, more bytes than a text status update post.

In one embodiment, if the content is below a certain size, such as justa simple text status update, the priority promotion price may notreflect the size of the content but simply a fixed price that does notfactor in the size of content, but instead depends on the things likethe size of priority queue and the anticipated delay that will be savedover a normal priority content promotion.

Social Media Groups Formed Around Crowd-Sourced Cache Content

Crowdsourcing of content by passengers of a future MCP event onto theMCP cache becomes the basis of forming a local social media group, theduration of which may extend only during the MCP limited duration event,or which may form before the event (as future passengers elect the samecontent) and extend until the event ends, at which point members of thegroup may elect to promote the local context (or parts of it) to theirglobal social media context.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of the formation of local social mediacontext based on crowdsource activity of passengers on a future MCPevent. Devices 802 utilized by future passengers communicate with agateway or portal system 804. Each passenger interacts with the portal804 to vote or contribute small payments in order to promote candidatecontent 808 into the MCP cache. Thus, each content title in thecandidate content set 808 has an associated set 810 of “fans” (e.g., idsof passengers that voted for the content to be cached), and potentiallyalso an amount of money each “fan” is willing to contribute to promotethe content into the cache. This amount of money may be utilized by adecision system as an indication of the strength of the fan's affinityto the associated content. Thus, the portal 804 may utilize the votingbehavior and contribution behavior (or only one or the other) to form alocal social media context 806 for the passengers that areparticipating. This local context 806 may be utilized to form socialmedia groups for the MCP limited duration event, where the links of thelocal social media context 806 (determination and/or strengths offriendships or associations, etc.) may be determined by common interestin or affinity to certain content ascertained from the crowdsourcebehavior of passengers in promoting content onto the MCP cache prior tothe event.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a machine communication andprocessing network for implementing aspects of the described devices andactions. A client device 910 outputs and receives signals in Internetprotocol (IP) format. The signals are exchanged via a router 914 and abridge 918 with a server system. The server system comprises a number ofseparate server devices, typically each implemented in the separatedmachine, although this is not necessarily the case. The signals from theclient devices 910 are provided via a load balancing server 908 to oneor more application server 904 and one or more database server 916. Loadbalancing server 908 maintains an even load in terms of requests insignals to the various other servers in the system including web server902, application server 904, and database server 906. Each server mayrepresent in effect multiple servers of that type. The signals from theclient devices 910 influence one or more processors of the applicationserver 904 to interact with a local social media context, or topromote/sync content between a person's local and global social mediacontexts. The database server 906 may provide signals in response toresource requests related to content of the local or global social mediacontext, such as images, text, video, or audio. The signals applied tothe database server 906 may cause one or more CPU of the database server906 to access certain addresses, which correlates to certain rows andcolumns in a data organization in machine memory. These signals from thedatabase server 906 may also be applied to application server 904 viathe load balancing server 908 to influence the organization andpresentation of a social media context (for example, via the web server902) via signals to the client device 910.

The machine network of FIG. 9 may be implemented onboard an MCP, withone or more LSS implementing the server group. The machine network mayalso be implemented as a global Internet service accessed by the MCPover a wireless communication interface (e.g., via satellite, 4G, orhi-speed WiFi).

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a machine device which canimplement various actions described herein (either client or server orintermediate device). Input devices 1004 comprise transducers thatconvert physical phenomenon into machine internal signals, typicallyelectrical, optical or magnetic signals. Signals may also be wireless inthe form of electromagnetic radiation in the radio frequency (RF) rangebut also potentially in the infrared or optical range. Examples of inputdevices 1004 are keyboards which respond to touch or physical pressurefrom an object or proximity of an object to a surface, mice whichrespond to motion through space or across a plane, microphones whichconvert vibrations in the medium (typically air) into device signals,scanners which convert optical patterns on two or three dimensionalobjects into device signals. The signals from the input devices 1004 areprovided via various machine signal conductors (e.g., busses or networkinterfaces) and circuits to memory devices 1006. The memory devices 1006is typically what is known as a first or second level memory device,providing for storage (via configuration of matter or states of matter)of signals received from the input devices 1004, instructions andinformation for controlling operation of the CPU 1002, and signals fromstorage devices 1010. Information stored in the memory devices 1006 istypically directly accessible to processing logic 1002 of the device.Signals input to the device cause the reconfiguration of the internalmaterial/energy state of the memory device 1006, creating in essence anew machine configuration, influencing the behavior of the device 1000by affecting the behavior of the CPU 1002 with control signals(instructions) and data provided in conjunction with the controlsignals. Second or third level storage devices 1010 may provide a slowerbut higher capacity machine memory capability. Examples of storagedevices 1010 are hard disks, optical disks, large capacity flashmemories or other non-volatile memory technologies, and magneticmemories. The processing logic 1002 may cause the configuration of thememory 1006 to be altered by signals in storage devices 1010. In otherwords, the CPU 1002 may cause data and instructions to be read fromstorage devices 1010 in the memory 1006 from which may then influencethe operations of CPU 1002 as instructions and data signals, and fromwhich it may also be provided to the output devices 1008. The CPU 1002may alter the content of the memory of 1006 by signaling to a machineinterface of memory 1006 to alter the internal configuration, and thenconverted signals to the storage devices 1010 to alter its materialinternal configuration. In other words, data and instructions may bebacked up from memory 1006, which is often volatile, to storage devices1010, which are often non-volatile. Output devices 308 are transducerswhich convert electrical, optical, or wireless signals into physicalphenomenon such as vibrations in the air, or patterns of light on amachine display, or vibrations (i.e., hepatic devices) or patterns ofink or other materials (i.e., printers and 3-D printers).

IMPLEMENTATIONS AND ALTERNATIVES

The techniques and procedures described herein may be implemented vialogic distributed in one or more computing devices. The particulardistribution and choice of logic may vary according to implementation.

Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are variouslogic implementations by which processes and/or systems described hereincan be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/or firmware), and thatthe preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which the processesare deployed. “Software” refers to logic that may be readily readaptedto different purposes (e.g. read/write volatile or nonvolatile memory ormedia). “Firmware” refers to logic embodied as read-only memories and/ormedia. Hardware refers to logic embodied as analog and/or digitalcircuits. If an implementer determines that speed and accuracy areparamount, the implementer may opt for a hardware and/or firmwarevehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, the implementer mayopt for a solely software implementation; or, yet again alternatively,the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software,and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles by which theprocesses described herein may be effected, none of which is inherentlysuperior to the other in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choicedependent upon the context in which the vehicle will be deployed and thespecific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of theimplementer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art willrecognize that optical aspects of implementations may involveoptically-oriented hardware, software, and or firmware.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts,and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will beunderstood as notorious by those within the art that each functionand/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples canbe implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range ofhardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof.Several portions of the subject matter described herein may beimplemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), orother integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art willrecognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, inwhole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in standard integratedcircuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or morecomputers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computersystems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors(e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors),as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designingthe circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and/or firmwarewould be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light ofthis disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capableof being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, andthat an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described hereinapplies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearingmedia used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signalbearing media include, but are not limited to, the following: recordabletype media such as floppy disks, hard disk drives, CD ROMs, digitaltape, and computer memory.

In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that thevarious aspects described herein which can be implemented, individuallyand/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, orany combination thereof can be viewed as being composed of various typesof “circuitry.” Consequently, as used herein “circuitry” includes, butis not limited to, electrical circuitry having at least one discreteelectrical circuit, electrical circuitry having at least one integratedcircuit, electrical circuitry having at least one application specificintegrated circuit, circuitry forming a general purpose computing deviceconfigured by a computer program (e.g., a general purpose computerconfigured by a computer program which at least partially carries outprocesses and/or devices described herein, or a microprocessorconfigured by a computer program which at least partially carries outprocesses and/or devices described herein), circuitry forming a memorydevice (e.g., forms of random access memory), and/or circuitry forming acommunications device (e.g., a modem, communications switch, oroptical-electrical equipment).

Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the artto describe devices and/or processes in the fashion set forth herein,and thereafter use standard engineering practices to integrate suchdescribed devices and/or processes into larger systems. That is, atleast a portion of the devices and/or processes described herein can beintegrated into a network processing system via a reasonable amount ofexperimentation.

The foregoing described aspects depict different components containedwithin, or connected with, different other components. It is to beunderstood that such depicted architectures are merely exemplary, andthat in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achievethe same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement ofcomponents to achieve the same functionality is effectively “associated”such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any twocomponents herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can beseen as “associated with” each other such that the desired functionalityis achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components.Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being“operably connected”, or “operably coupled”, to each other to achievethe desired functionality.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a local social media contextserver aboard a vehicle, the local social media context servercomprising logic to implement a local social media context for apassenger aboard the vehicle, the local social media context beingconfigured with a local social media context duration commensurate witha trip duration for a trip by the passenger aboard the vehicle; logic toform the local social media context around content crowd-sourced from anetwork portal prior to commencement of the trip; an antenna coupled tothe local social media context server; logic to promote aboard thevehicle from a network external to the vehicle, via the antenna, aconfigurable subset of a global social media context for the passengeraboard the vehicle; logic to overlay content of the local social mediacontext onto a display comprising the global social media context; andlogic to configure a merge set of the local social media context and tocause the merge set of the local social media context to merge into theglobal social media context at a conclusion of the trip by the passengeraboard the vehicle.
 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising: logicto configure a subset of the local social media context to promote, viathe antenna, to the network external to the vehicle.
 3. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising: logic to set the local social media contextduration to persist through vehicle stops and passenger disembarkationfrom the vehicle.
 4. The system of claim 1, further comprising: logic tosynchronize the local social media context into the global social mediacontext according to a configurable set of rules.
 5. The system of claim4, further comprising: logic to synchronize the local social mediacontext into the global social media context selectively according to alocation of the vehicle.
 6. The system of claim 4, further comprising:logic to synchronize the local social media context into the globalsocial media context selectively according to available bandwidthbetween the vehicle and the network external to the vehicle.
 7. Thesystem of claim 4, further comprising: logic to synchronize the localsocial media context into the global social media context at setmilestones of the trip by the passenger aboard the vehicle.
 8. Thesystem of claim 4, further comprising: logic to synchronize the localsocial media context into the global social media context prioritizingcontent for one or more of close friends, family, or co-workers.
 9. Thesystem of claim 4, further comprising: logic to synchronize the localsocial media context into the global social media context prioritizingcontent for identified events local to the vehicle.
 10. The system ofclaim 4, further comprising: logic to synchronize the local social mediacontext into the global social media context by applying a filter toexclude from promotion content for specific people or events of theglobal social media context.
 11. The system of claim 4, furthercomprising: logic to synchronize the local social media context into theglobal social media context prioritizing specified content types. 12.The system of claim 4, further comprising: logic to synchronize thelocal social media context into the global social media contextprioritizing specified types of posts.
 13. The system of claim 4,further comprising: logic to synchronize the local social media contextinto the global social media context by converting large content intorepresentative smaller content.
 14. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising: logic to select the content for the local social mediacontext based on votes by passengers of the vehicle submitted to theportal.
 15. The system of claim 1, further comprising: logic to selectthe content for the local social media context based on payments bypassengers of the vehicle submitted to the portal.
 16. The system ofclaim 1, further comprising: logic to form the local social mediacontext with social links determined by common interest in the contentexpressed by passengers of the vehicle, the interest expressed by thepassengers based on behavior by the passengers interacting with theportal to promote the content onto a cache of the vehicle.